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3 hours ago, jabow said:

Whoa!!  That's Agent Orange spray rig and those are barrels of Agent Orange!!  Was this at Da Nang??

I flew from end to end in II Corp and didn't see a Camo Huey, tho photos clearly show some DID exist.  If they didn't paint over them, likely put tape over ones that have critical maintenance info and painted away.  Maybe with a brush???

Let us see your built when complete.

Bo

Demon 68

that's not Danang or Chu Lai unless it's in the very early sixties. Maybe Phu Bai or Dong Ha?  Most Agent Orange was sprayed via C123's. I did see a Huey spray bug repellent two or three times out and around Chu Lai. You know if you been sprayed with both. One has a sweet smell with no real taste and the other has a chemical smell and a vodka like taste. Another reason to hate vodka!

       I never saw a Huey sporting a camo paint job in I-Corp. Every chopper was one of two shaded of O.D. green

gary

 

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9 hours ago, jabow said:

Whoa!!  That's Agent Orange spray rig and those are barrels of Agent Orange!!  Was this at Da Nang??

I flew from end to end in II Corp and didn't see a Camo Huey, tho photos clearly show some DID exist.  If they didn't paint over them, likely put tape over ones that have critical maintenance info and painted away.  Maybe with a brush???

Let us see your built when complete.

Bo

Demon 68

 

5 hours ago, ChesshireCat said:

that's not Danang or Chu Lai unless it's in the very early sixties. Maybe Phu Bai or Dong Ha?  Most Agent Orange was sprayed via C123's. I did see a Huey spray bug repellent two or three times out and around Chu Lai. You know if you been sprayed with both. One has a sweet smell with no real taste and the other has a chemical smell and a vodka like taste. Another reason to hate vodka!

       I never saw a Huey sporting a camo paint job in I-Corp. Every chopper was one of two shaded of O.D. green

gary

 

 

His unit rotated between Plantation Army Airfield in Longh Bin and Quan Loi when they supported MACV-SOG.  He was in 2nd platoon (Skychiefs) in the 195th AHC and was there August '69 until July '70.   He started out in Guns, but went to slicks about a month after he got there.  This particular aircraft is the one I will be replicating, but probably not with the spraying rig.  Shortly after this picture was taken, the aircraft was repainted and made to look purdy!  I read somewhere that the 195th was the only U.S. unit to be in SEA camo, but they went away from it not long after he left because it was too distinctive and told the enemy that MACV-SOG was inbound.  Regarding the Agent Orange, he always said that if he ever suffered from the ill effects, he has as much evidence as he will ever need of his exposure to it!  Fortunately, he turned 70 the other day and has shown no effects so far.

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3 hours ago, JesusNut said:

 

 

His unit rotated between Plantation Army Airfield in Longh Bin and Quan Loi when they supported MACV-SOG.  He was in 2nd platoon (Skychiefs) in the 195th AHC and was there August '69 until July '70.   He started out in Guns, but went to slicks about a month after he got there.  This particular aircraft is the one I will be replicating, but probably not with the spraying rig.  Shortly after this picture was taken, the aircraft was repainted and made to look purdy!  I read somewhere that the 195th was the only U.S. unit to be in SEA camo, but they went away from it not long after he left because it was too distinctive and told the enemy that MACV-SOG was inbound.  Regarding the Agent Orange, he always said that if he ever suffered from the ill effects, he has as much evidence as he will ever need of his exposure to it!  Fortunately, he turned 70 the other day and has shown no effects so far.

In the eyes of the VA, all he needs to do is to file a claim over Agent Orange. They've ruled that if you had boots on the ground; then you were exposed. Sad thing is most guys find out too late.

gary 

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10 hours ago, ChesshireCat said:

In the eyes of the VA, all he needs to do is to file a claim over Agent Orange. They've ruled that if you had boots on the ground; then you were exposed. Sad thing is most guys find out too late.

gary 

And this IS photo evidence that he WAS exposed to Agent Orange!!

Yeah, I started to have issues about two years after I returned.  Recently, a Veteran's advocate corned me and made me file a claim.  My medical records showed I was being treated for one of the many medical issues and according to DAV later, it was a done deal!!

Just didn't know.

 

EDIT: Oh, this photo is also proof the M Rotor Blades aren't bowed as per kit.

 

Bo

Edited by jabow
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5 hours ago, jabow said:

And this IS photo evidence that he WAS exposed to Agent Orange!!

Yeah, I started to have issues about two years after I returned.  Recently, a Veteran's advocate corned me and made me file a claim.  My medical records showed I was being treated for one of the many medical issues and according to DAV later, it was a done deal!!

Just didn't know.

 

EDIT: Oh, this photo is also proof the M Rotor Blades aren't bowed as per kit.

 

Bo

I was hit with it in March of 68, and they aid it was bug killer. I knew something wasn't right as I burnt all over, but after a day or so it went away. Then in August I was soaked with it out by the Hiep Duc Ridge Line. A week later there were 22 of us with various problems. Mine was these really ugly sores that were growing by the hour. They wouldn't bring 22 guys out of the field, so they flew in a doctor and a couple pretty nurses. They had no idea what they were looking at, and said they'd be back. Two or three days later four or five doctors and maybe seven pretty nurses flew out. They divided us into five or six groups, and treated us all differently trying to find a fix. By now, if you got a scratch or cut it wouldn't heal and looked infected. We were all getting very weak. They actually used a veterinary medicine on me that really stunk bad. That with huge doses of antibiotics. After about two weeks we started to feel a lot better, and Top said we just met the wrong girls! Two years ago I buried number seventeen of the twenty two guys. All from Agent Orange linked illnesses!  I'll never forgive Monsanto!!

 

Fast forward to about five years ago. I started having more skin issues on my legs. Started out right where I was in August 68. The doctors said it was a spider bite. I said NO! After a little bit of arguing with the young doctor he brings in an older guy. He looks at it and two other places. Take my file and writes "anti-defoliation" on top the page. Problem was that he was the only person who'd ever seen it like that. (A DaNang warrior so I later learned) They gave me massive doses of a steroid and some topical stuff. It cleared up, but he said I'd be back. A year later I was, but now it was everywhere. After going thru four different doctors they gave up, and brought in a team from IU. They used me to train doctors and nurses because it was so rare to see this. I consider myself the lucky one here, as I don't have deep internal issues yet.

 

Once again I'll never forgive them

gary

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32 minutes ago, ChesshireCat said:

I was hit with it in March of 68, and they aid it was bug killer. I knew something wasn't right as I burnt all over, but after a day or so it went away. Then in August I was soaked with it out by the Hiep Duc Ridge Line. A week later there were 22 of us with various problems. Mine was these really ugly sores that were growing by the hour. They wouldn't bring 22 guys out of the field, so they flew in a doctor and a couple pretty nurses. They had no idea what they were looking at, and said they'd be back. Two or three days later four or five doctors and maybe seven pretty nurses flew out. They divided us into five or six groups, and treated us all differently trying to find a fix. By now, if you got a scratch or cut it wouldn't heal and looked infected. We were all getting very weak. They actually used a veterinary medicine on me that really stunk bad. That with huge doses of antibiotics. After about two weeks we started to feel a lot better, and Top said we just met the wrong girls! Two years ago I buried number seventeen of the twenty two guys. All from Agent Orange linked illnesses!  I'll never forgive Monsanto!!

 

Fast forward to about five years ago. I started having more skin issues on my legs. Started out right where I was in August 68. The doctors said it was a spider bite. I said NO! After a little bit of arguing with the young doctor he brings in an older guy. He looks at it and two other places. Take my file and writes "anti-defoliation" on top the page. Problem was that he was the only person who'd ever seen it like that. (A DaNang warrior so I later learned) They gave me massive doses of a steroid and some topical stuff. It cleared up, but he said I'd be back. A year later I was, but now it was everywhere. After going thru four different doctors they gave up, and brought in a team from IU. They used me to train doctors and nurses because it was so rare to see this. I consider myself the lucky one here, as I don't have deep internal issues yet.

 

Once again I'll never forgive them

gary

Sorry!!  If ya never been told before, Welcome Home!!

Bo

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3 hours ago, jabow said:

Sorry!!  If ya never been told before, Welcome Home!!

Bo

you know I've been shot, had steel dug out me six or eight times. Got my butt kicked in more than one bar room brawl, and won a few. Red Cross girls came to us once, and were gone in forty minutes. We saw no USO shows, and never missed them. I lost all of my squad but three souls twice, and I can live with that. I'm pretty laid back in life, and nothing much gets into my head (including all the above). When I came home the old WWII vets treated my generation as sum. I've only began in the last five years to shrug it off. Have always reached out to Korean War guys, as nobody else did. I never responded much to the "thanks" phrase, but "welcome home" does ring a lot of bells. We must never make another generation of combat vets unwelcome.

gary 

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16 hours ago, ChesshireCat said:

you know I've been shot, had steel dug out me six or eight times. Got my butt kicked in more than one bar room brawl, and won a few. Red Cross girls came to us once, and were gone in forty minutes. We saw no USO shows, and never missed them. I lost all of my squad but three souls twice, and I can live with that. I'm pretty laid back in life, and nothing much gets into my head (including all the above). When I came home the old WWII vets treated my generation as sum. I've only began in the last five years to shrug it off. Have always reached out to Korean War guys, as nobody else did. I never responded much to the "thanks" phrase, but "welcome home" does ring a lot of bells. We must never make another generation of combat vets unwelcome.

gary 

I know the feeling!!  Got my 1st 'Welcome Home' some 10 yrs ago by a fellow modeler and Army Reservist I served with.  Before that, only family members!!

NEVER joined any Veterans Organization.  Have no love lost for leaders of the 'Greatest Generation' that managed our farce!! But, what's important, we made it home.  Take care!!

Bo

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18 hours ago, ChesshireCat said:

you know I've been shot, had steel dug out me six or eight times. Got my butt kicked in more than one bar room brawl, and won a few. Red Cross girls came to us once, and were gone in forty minutes. We saw no USO shows, and never missed them. I lost all of my squad but three souls twice, and I can live with that. I'm pretty laid back in life, and nothing much gets into my head (including all the above). When I came home the old WWII vets treated my generation as sum. I've only began in the last five years to shrug it off. Have always reached out to Korean War guys, as nobody else did. I never responded much to the "thanks" phrase, but "welcome home" does ring a lot of bells. We must never make another generation of combat vets unwelcome.

gary 

 

54 minutes ago, jabow said:

I know the feeling!!  Got my 1st 'Welcome Home' some 10 yrs ago by a fellow modeler and Army Reservist I served with.  Before that, only family members!!

NEVER joined any Veterans Organization.  Have no love lost for leaders of the 'Greatest Generation' that managed our farce!! But, what's important, we made it home.  Take care!!

Bo

 

Gentlemen, let me add to both of you, and to all Vietnam Vets, WELCOME HOME!  Fortunately, Dad has not had any issues that I know of regarding Agent Orange.  I spoke to him some more about this picture and he advised this picture was taken at Bear Cat, a Royal Thai Army Base.  He was part of a group in his unit that trained Thai aviators in the Huey.  I am working on getting his pictures sorted and hopefully digitized.  

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1 hour ago, jabow said:

I know the feeling!!  Got my 1st 'Welcome Home' some 10 yrs ago by a fellow modeler and Army Reservist I served with.  Before that, only family members!!

NEVER joined any Veterans Organization.  Have no love lost for leaders of the 'Greatest Generation' that managed our farce!! But, what's important, we made it home.  Take care!!

Bo

let me tell you a story;

I was up at the VA in Indy about three years ago. Was just waiting in the lobby for my turn in the lab. There was a very old gentleman from WWII setting on the sofa across from me. He was there with his daughter or maybe even grand daughter. Indy treats a lot of full time military as well  us old guys, and three guys in uniform walked past him. All three wore CIB's, and the usual badges. The old man stood up, and reached out to them to shake their hands, and welcome them back to the world. I instantly knew things were healing between the generations. 

 

Now I go out of my way to always welcome home a vet. Don't ever ask about his experiences. Just tell him it's good to see him home. 

 

By the way, I never knew much about you, or your experiences. So please allow me to extend a hand and simply say welcome home brother. May the pizzas always be good and the beer very cold!

gary

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32 minutes ago, JesusNut said:

 

 

Gentlemen, let me add to both of you, and to all Vietnam Vets, WELCOME HOME!  Fortunately, Dad has not had any issues that I know of regarding Agent Orange.  I spoke to him some more about this picture and he advised this picture was taken at Bear Cat, a Royal Thai Army Base.  He was part of a group in his unit that trained Thai aviators in the Huey.  I am working on getting his pictures sorted and hopefully digitized.  

you tell him I said "Greetings from I-Corp, and a warm welcome home."

gary

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13 hours ago, ChesshireCat said:

you tell him I said "Greetings from I-Corp, and a warm welcome home."

gary

 

Will do Gary!  And thank you, sir, for your service.  Personally, I did 6 years in the Navy on submarines.  I also make it a point to always say something to both active and former military.  

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On 10/27/2017 at 7:52 PM, JesusNut said:

 

I read somewhere that the 195th was the only U.S. unit to be in SEA camo, but they went away from it not long after he left because it was too distinctive and told the enemy that MACV-SOG was inbound. 

 

That is technically not correct but the 195th Thunderchickens and Ghostriders did as stated. When the 195th AHC stopped the practice I dont know.  Not to split hairs but given the unique sound signature of the Huey any of them flying over the wire would let someone know something was up. If the POS mole in MACV-SOG hadn't given it away already the sound of those blades sure would. No special paint job needed.

 

A troop 3/17 CAV also had SEA camo and of course 20th SOS 'Green Hornets' though the large majority of these were all gunships whereas the 195th had both slicks and guns in SEA camo. 

 

As for the VA - i will spare everyone the curse words I have for them and their 'treatment' or lack thereof for veterans. I walked away from their sorry asses long ago for civilian care which far exceeds their incompetence.

 

Here's an Air Force 20th SOS Green Hornet in SEA Camo. Welcome home.

 

24191663448_468f31d5ab_b.jpg

 

 

 

Edited by snake36bravo
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2 hours ago, snake36bravo said:

 

That is technically not correct but the 195th Thunderchickens and Ghostriders did as stated. When the 195th AHC stopped the practice I dont know.  Not to split hairs but given the unique sound signature of the Huey any of them flying over the wire would let someone know something was up. If the POS mole in MACV-SOG hadn't given it away already the sound of those blades sure would. No special paint job needed.

 

A troop 3/17 CAV also had SEA camo and of course 20th SOS 'Green Hornets' though the large majority of these were all gunships whereas the 195th had both slicks and guns in SEA camo. 

 

As for the VA - i will spare everyone the curse words I have for them and their 'treatment' or lack thereof for veterans. I walked away from their sorry asses long ago for civilian care which far exceeds their incompetence.

 

Here's an Air Force 20th SOS Green Hornet in SEA Camo. Welcome home.

 

24191663448_468f31d5ab_b.jpg

 

 

 

You can only take this from an I-Corp perspective. I did 17 insertions as the number one man on a six man recon team (First Shirt says 25 and the number four man says 22 or 23). So many that they all seem to flow together; I might add. Way out west along the Lao border, and Huey couldn't do it. Just not enough range when you board from DaNang or even Chu Lai or Phu Bai. They could make the insertions with a Huey, but had to refuel at least once along the way (often twice). But thy did get out if they had a good jumping off place.

The base camp I was at saw SOG, POG, LRRP's, the Program, and a few other seriously black ops flow thru it weekly and often daily. You could easily tell where they were headed by who picked them up. A Chinhook or H34 meant they were headed very deep into the neighborhood. A Huey meant they might be going twenty five klicks. Didn't see a Jolly Green much, but if you did it was in support of a Heavy Team or Mike Force.  A Chinhook could follow the rainbow all they way to the gold without an issue, as could a Jolly Green. We had refueling points that really were not much to look at (usually some very lonely OP that nobody ever wanted to visit). I'd have walked before dropping in on a couple of them! Plus you were on the count down as soon as you touched down. OP 88 was the worst place on earth. No way in and no way out, except by air. 

 

Laos was ugly to everybody. Rain and fog all over the place. No idea where Laos was as there's no border fence. Just some concrete markers every now and then. It's stone silent out there, and you can hear the safety of an AK let off at 300 yards. If you've been to the Smokey Mountains, then you've been to Laos. Or twenty five klicks east. There are things that will eat you in there besides folks that want to shoot you. Place has so many diseases living in there that it could be turned into a lab. A Huey rolling thru a valley on an insertion will be heard for miles around. To be exact most any chopper will. That's why we skipped around from hill or mountain to another (often six or eight fake insertions). Just part of the game plan. You might do it till they run low on gas, and if they are real low it might be as soon as they can get your sorry butt on the ground. I've been inserted on the wrong mountain top a couple times, and once so far off the map they couldn't find us. The real bad thing is that when your way out west they won't hang around to see if your alright. This can be ugly as the neighbors almost never bring you a cold beer. Worse yet is getting shot at by your own guys cause you ain't supposed to be on that hill top!  Can be a rather interesting adventure that has led to more than one fist fight. 

 

I got picked up about a thousand yards from the border one afternoon in a Huey that was already running low on gas. They shot the ship up pretty good with a couple 51's, and after about five minutes we knew we might have to walk. They sat us down in a running flare at Kam Duc to make it to the refueling point. Said we'd be back in an hour or so. They never came back, and thinking now I doubt they made it to the refueling point. I was stuck there for four or five days trying to get out of that mortar magnet. Hueys were out of gas before they got there! No way to gas up there even though they had fuel. Told Top that I was gonna bust his head when we got back home for getting me into that mess. He laughed, and pulled out a hot can of Budweiser. Why would anybody want to be at that place????  

 

gary

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On ‎10‎/‎30‎/‎2017 at 10:24 AM, snake36bravo said:

 

That is technically not correct but the 195th Thunderchickens and Ghostriders did as stated. When the 195th AHC stopped the practice I dont know.  Not to split hairs but given the unique sound signature of the Huey any of them flying over the wire would let someone know something was up. If the POS mole in MACV-SOG hadn't given it away already the sound of those blades sure would. No special paint job needed.

 

A troop 3/17 CAV also had SEA camo and of course 20th SOS 'Green Hornets' though the large majority of these were all gunships whereas the 195th had both slicks and guns in SEA camo. 

 

As for the VA - i will spare everyone the curse words I have for them and their 'treatment' or lack thereof for veterans. I walked away from their sorry asses long ago for civilian care which far exceeds their incompetence.

 

Here's an Air Force 20th SOS Green Hornet in SEA Camo. Welcome home.

 

24191663448_468f31d5ab_b.jpg

 

 

 

I believe this is an Army H model with a Hornet zap. The 20th flew UH-1F/P and N model Hueys; no H models that I can track down. The tail boom carries the standard "United States Army," and the 20th had the hornet in the middle of the tail boom, not on the fuselage. The 7/17th had several camo'd Hueys and Cobras and supported the SOG guys; this may be one of theirs. This Huey appears to be set up for combat assaults; no jump doors. Also, there's no sign of a McGuire rig usually used for SOG missions.

 

On a separate note, in the 92nd, we flew defoliation mission with Agent Orange around II Corps firebases occasionally with a similar rig to the one shown above.

 

As always, your opinion may differ.

 

Mig

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